Under Government Pressure, Mexican Vigilantes Vow To Fight On

In Michoacan, Mexico, there has been fighting between the drug cartel, federal forces, and a new enemy--the civilian militia. In this region, the Knights Templar cartel rules and leads in the production of meth, cocaine, and marijuana. Michoacan, a Western province of Mexico, has been under the rule of the Templar for years. After countless kidnappings, murders, and other forms of violent crime, local residents took up their own resistance "...because the local and state police did nothing to protect us". The local and federal government has demanded that the civilian groups disarm but they see no other solution for their self-defense. Suspicions have been rampant for years that the Mexican government and police are on the side of the cartel. Last week, the federal government sent in thousands of police to disarm the civilian patrols. Two were killed in the confrontation between the groups. President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has been in office for 13 months, has tried to downplay the drug war and deny rumors that his campaign received cartel funding. For now, the civilian groups are holding unarmed checkpoints throughout the region and storing their weapons elsewhere. As a local priest told NPR, "If the horse doesn't want to move, you have to use your spurs".

--Emily Goodfellow (PSC 222)